In a statement issued from PM office, the PM is quoted as saying that people and the security forces of Afghanistan have been paying a heavy price due to continued instability and threats from the enemies of peace and Pakistan stands by the government and the people of Afghanistan in their quest for lasting peace and stability.

He said peace in Afghanistan is critical to regional peace, stability and development.

Earlier, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa too condemned the terrorist attack while Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement condemning the attack and expressing solidarity with people of Afghanistan in their quest for peace.

Gen. Abdul Razeq, one of Afghanistan’s most powerful security officials, was killed when a bodyguard opened fire following a meeting in the governor’s compound in the southern province of Kandahar, officials said.

Gen. Scott Miller, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan who had been at the meeting with Razeq only moments earlier, was not injured in the attack. But the local commander of the NDS intelligence service and the Kandahar provincial governor Zalmay Wesa were killed.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had targeted both Miller and Razeq, the police chief of Kandahar who had a fearsome reputation as a ruthless opponent of the insurgents in their southern Afghan heartlands.